Understanding driver self-regulating behavior: how does phone use influence vehicle control in real world?

In the last few years, research on driver distraction focused on assessing the extent to which using\nmobile phones is compatible with safe driving. Many studies employing driving simulators suggested\nthat using a phone while driving is definitely unsafe. Nevertheless, so far, naturalistic studies, as well\nas aggregate crash statistics, did not match these results, keeping open the debate, and promising\nguidelines for new countermeasures to distraction alternative to bans and based on understanding\ndriver behavior in the real world.\nNaturalistic data collected from 108 drivers in the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS)\nprogram in 2009 and 2010 was employed to determine how drivers change their vehicle control\nwhen engaging in a conversation on, or manipulation of, a phone. Drivers were also divided into\nthree age groups 20-30 (young), 40-50 (middle-age), and 60-70 (older) to determine the possible\ninteraction between age and phone use while driving on vehicle control.\nUsing a phone for calling affected lateral control differently than manipulating a phone (as while\ndialing or texting). However, no difference was found for longitudinal control. Young drivers used a\nphone while driving more often than older and middle-age drivers. In addition, young drivers\nexhibited smaller safety margins while using a phone as well as faster reactions. Finally, the results\nsuggest that drivers tend to interrupt phone interactions when the driving context becomes more\ncomplex.\nIn conclusion, this study suggests that driver self-regulating behavior is the key to assess the net\nsafety effect of using a phone while driving. Consequently, countermeasures able to support the\ndrivers’ inherent self-regulating behavior may be a more successful, and more widely adopted\nsolutions, than phone bans toward addressing the potential for distraction posed by phones while\ndriving.